Hey!

What are you doing? Trying to sleep? Not anymore!!

I brought a pumpkin! I'm so nice I brought 2 toys to wake you up with! 

~~~~~~~~

My puppy is insane, but really cute.

I had one hell of a migraine yesterday. Everything hurt. I was just restless and uncomfortable all day yesterday. Finally around 8, it seemed to break a bit. I took advantage of feeling better by doing the dishes (including the 3 cast iron skillets), scrubbed out the sink, wiped the countertops, and then scrubbed the hood of the stove. It was gross!

I kept trying to knit or get online to get a few things done, but it was not one of those evenings. I think I maybe knit 3 rows of a handtowel and each time I sat down in front of the computer, that awful pressure would start up again behind my left eye.

I finished a wonderful book last night, The Song Of Achilles. Very good book! I've been in kind of a reading slump after getting through a bunch of books right at the beginning of the year. I'm hoping I can knock some of these half-read books off my list soon. I have quite a few books/series I want to re-read this summer, so I'm trying to get some of my wishlist taken care of before then.

I'm doing a bit of an upgrade/refitting of my Central Park Hoodie. I was about 50 lbs heavier when I knit it, so it's pretty large on me right now. I'm going to felt it slightly after I knit the pockets for it. I put in a fake seam across the neck with a simple crochet line. It had a really bad habit of slouching off my shoulders since the back and hood were knit in one piece, but the shoulders can't take all the weight of the hood, so it just spreads like a slug across your back. It never really looked that nice on except as a very bulky outer layer. The "seam" helps put some stability in it. I'm debating moving the buttons over about an inch. I sewed them on close to the edge because I liked the way it looked... but it leaves a gap where wind flies right in... I'm still not sure if I want to move them. I may read through my notes on the sweater to see if there was another reason I placed them where I did. Either way, I'll debate and decide it while I'm knitting the pockets.

Bug, the helpful Shiba

I was trying to take some photos my screwed up button band on my CPH. (It was supposed to be 2x2 ribbing, not 1x1 and my crochet cast off was still WAY too tight.) I didn't even get one photo before Bug popped in there.



Here's a slide show of his adventure.

CPH update

I just finished the hood of my CPH. It looks adorable and a little elfin (pointy).

I just have some sleeves, pockets, and the button band to work on now. The sleeves should go relatively quickly since I can do them at the same time and the pockets will be very, very fast since they are so little. The button band should be too awful either since it's just ribbing. Picking up the stitches will be annoying, but that will be the worst part. Luckily, I can work on each leftover bit on it's own so I won't get too bored doing one thing for hours on end.

Oh, and I want this! It's so adorable and knit geeky!

August is for WIPs

I'm trying to clean out the hidden WIPs stashed all over the place. Mainly just because I actually want to have some nice new sweaters for the fall!

I dug a scarf that's been languishing since last fall. It's just a simple 1x1 rib out of some gorgeous Knit Picks Shamrock. I had 6 balls in 3 different colors, so I'm doing just big blocks of color. I'm on the final color now, a lovely green. It vaguely looks like the Irish flag, with a coppery brown/gold at one end, cream in the middle, and the green at the other end. I worked on it for about 3 hours on Sunday night and almost finished up one ball, I'm hoping that a few more episodes of So You Think You Can Dance and Deadliest Catch will give me a chance to finish it up.

I've been working on a simple shrug this summer, but due to a size 8 needle and the miles of stockinette, it's taking a while. I'm one skein in now and it's already getting quite heavy. But at about $8 for the finished project that can just be tossed on whenever, I think I can make due.

I also dug out my CPH. I had some issues back in May when I was working on it. I failed to measure where to start my armhole for the left front, and was about an inch off, so I had to frog about 6 or 7 inches and try again. I sort of forgot that I needed to give it some attention, but I pulled it off the top of bookshelf yesterday and gave it some time. I finished up the piece and was able to seam it to the back piece today. I have the first few inches of the right front done (simple ribbing - I did both sides at the same time to ensure the same length), so I'm hoping to get a big chunk of that knocked out this evening while I watch Big Brother and Shark Week stuff.

CPH and the stupid loose yarn

February 17, 2010 - CPH and the stupid loose yarn
Originally uploaded by Jesmy

I keep getting these really loose stitches from where I switch from knit to purl. I tried finding a solution online with no real luck. Purling through the back loop didn't work. The only thing that seems to be helping at all is pulling my working yarn really tight when I swap over and purl the first two stitches (purl, then tug, purl, then tug). It's better, but still not great.

This photo is from a few days ago... I'm into the armholes now and should be able to get the back done tonight and cast on the fronts. Those should go pretty quickly. I'm glad I went with a US 9 (5.5 mm) needle. It gives the yarn some room to move.